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Controlling the physical properties of the surfaces of materials, such as metals, is critical for industrial applications ranging non-stick frying pans to the fuselage of aircraft.

Stress, fatigue and heavy loads aren't always negative elements of work - in fact, they are what attracted Jennifer Forrester to the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Conventional lenses can resolve structures around 200 nanometers (nm) in size, but scientists in Europe have for the first time developed a lens capable of achieving optical resolution of under 100 nm at visible wavelengths.

(PhysOrg.com) -- German physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics succeeded in manipulating atoms individually in a lattice of light and in arranging them in arbitrary patterns.

A Syracuse University chemist has developed a way to use very low frequency light waves to study the weak forces (London dispersion forces) that hold molecules together in a crystal. This fundamental research could be applied to solve critical problems in drug research, manufacturing and quality control.

A brand new run of experiments is underway at STFC's ISIS neutron source, from looking at ways of developing new antibiotics, through creating more effective materials in dentistry, to research that could in the future lead to improving the efficiency of electricity transfer in the national grid.

A breakthrough in the study of chemical reactions during etching and coating of materials was achieved by a research group headed by Kiel physicist, Professor Olaf Magnussen. The team from the Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel (CAU), Germany, in collaboration with staff from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, have uncovered for the first time just what happens in manufacturing processes, used for the formation of metal contacts thinner than a human hair in modern consumer electronics, such as flat-screen television. The results appear as the cover feature in the current issue of the renowned Journal of the American Chemical Society.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is now halfway toward completing construction of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a powerful x-ray microscope nearly half a mile in circumference. Construction started in 2009 on the $912-million facility.

You might think it’s hard to have a conversation with theoretical physicist Brian Greene. His research specialty is superstring theory, the hypothesis that everything in the universe is made up of miniscule, vibrating strands of energy. Luckily for an interviewer, Greene has a knack for explaining difficult concepts to non-scientists.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The quantum phenomenon which is thought to cause black holes to leak energy and ultimately explode is more common than first thought according to Victoria University researchers.

A theoretical technique developed at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is bringing supercomputer simulations and experimental results closer together by identifying common "fingerprints."

Princeton researchers have invented an extremely sensitive sensor that opens up new ways to detect a wide range of substances, from tell-tale signs of cancer to hidden explosives.

Engineers at Ohio State University have invented a lens that enables microscopic objects to be seen from nine different angles at once to create a 3D image.

General relativity, Einstein’s theory of gravity, gives us a useful basis for mathematically modeling the large scale universe – while quantum theory gives us a useful basis for modeling sub-atomic particle physics and the likely small-scale, high-energy-density physics of the early universe – nanoseconds after the Big Bang – which general relativity just models as a singularity and has nothing else to say on the matter.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fluctuating magnetic stripes could be the cause of the mysterious hourglass-shaped magnetic spectrum found in high temperature superconductors, according to new research.